Tuesday, September 15, 2009

200th Post and The Birthday Girl!

Somebody has a birthday today! Can you guess who?

Autumn's 5th birthday is today. My little girl is growing up and it breaks my heart. I remember her as a little stinky pup. We got her from a co-worker when she was about 8 weeks old and barely 5 pounds. We had no intention of getting a dog or any other pet. But I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. I tried to steal her away by sticking her in my purse, but that was short lived because she wasn't potty trained :-)

Autumn at 10 weeks and 4 years old.

My co-worker found her on the side of the road in the pouring rain. How can you deny that sweet face? She snatched her up and took care of her for 2 weeks before she got tired of her. She threatened to take her to get euthanized the day before Thanksgiving (I know, how cruel! Needless to say, we're no longer friends) so Mr. H and I went to pick her up on Thanksgiving Day. We named her Autumn (previously named Sugar. She is so NOT a "Sugar") and nicknamed her our Turkey Dog.

She's earned many a nickname since and has stolen our hearts. She is the most loving dog ever. I know everyone feels that way about their pets, but she was meant to be ours. She has so much character and personality for such a furry girl. She rarely ever barks unless someone rings the door bell or a dog is walking by in front of our house. She chases the black birds out of our yard by prancing around and shooing them away. She chases bunnies for fun. I don't know what she'd do if she ever caught one, she just wants to play. She even sticks her snoot into their burrows to see if they want to come out and play. Though she's completely jealous of our own bunny and wants nothing to do with him :-) Mostly she just likes to go out and lay in the grass and let the wind blow through her ears.

When I cry, she sits near me and gives me snuggies. She sleeps in the middle of our bed on her back with her feet up in the air and fan blowing on her belly. When she sees we've caught her in the act she gets embarrassed and rolls over. She sleeps on our bed often but if we've just put clean sheets on it, then she won't jump on unless she has permission. When we're gone, she sleeps on Mr. H's pillow all snuggled up in a ball. When we return she's waiting for us by the door. Always waggin' her tail and ready to give kisses.

Her feet smell like corn chips so we call her Frito Toes from time to time. When it's time to take a bath she runs to the opposite side of the house and starts to shake. She wasn't always like this. In fact when she was a pup, she'd sit outside the shower when I was in there and she'd cry until I picked her up. We would shower together. Now she cowers, but once she's in the tub, she's just fine. I'm convinced she just likes to be stinky.

She thinks she's much smaller than she is (much like her momma) and likes to sit in her favorite chair in the office. She barely fits in it and her feet hang off the edge sometimes but she doesn't care. She is quite the contortionist and makes herself fit into any little nook. She is a sleeper, much like her parents, and loves to eat even when she's not really hungry. Also like her parents. She hangs out with me in the kitchen when I cook. I like to think it's because she doesn't want me to be lonely but I know it's because she's hoping I drop something.

Treats are her favorite things and she expects her momma will always keep her in good supply. For her 3rd birthday I made her Bacon and Cheese Doggy Treats, for her 4th birthday I made her Tuna, Carrot and Cheese Treats and this year I made her Oatmeal and Peanut Butter Cookies. When she hears the flip of the lever on her cookie jar she comes running no matter where she is or what she's doing. She looks at you, sits down ever so gently, tilts her head and furrows her brow as if to ask if she can have one. This makes it all worth it.

Position the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Lightly grease or use parchment paper to line two cookie sheets or baking trays.

In a large bowl, using a fork or whisk, combine the flour, rolled oats, and baking powder.

In a medium bowl, using a whisk or an electric mixer, beat the milk, molasses OR honey, and peanut butter together until smooth. Stir in the chicken broth.

Using a large spoon or spatula, combine the two mixes, blending until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a soft dough. If the mixture seems a little dry, add a little more broth a tablespoon at a time.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured flat surface. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick. Use a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies as you can, reworking the scraps as you go. The dough will become stiff as it is reworked.

Place the cookies side by side on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cookies appear very dry and the edges are light golden brown. Turn off the heat and leave the trays in the oven til completely cool. Leave undisturbed for 8-16 hours. This will allow for them to become shelf stable and completely dried out.

In honor of my 200th post, Autumn has a giveaway for you. One lucky winner will win all the goodies in this photo: A Chef'n salt and pepper grinder ball, a cook booklet from Better Homes and Gardens,Americolor gel food coloring in red, blue and yellow,and a mini whisk key chain.

***In order to enter for this giveaway, you must leave a comment on this post and tell me about your pets if you have any. What are their names and what are they like? If you don't have pets, go adopt one from a shelter- they need a loving home. Of course, that's not a requirement but if you do adopt one, I'll make homemade treats for your special friend :-) If you aren't lucky enough to have pets tell me what your favorite animal is and why.

***Giveaway is open to Residents of the USA and Canada (I'm feeling generous here). You have until Saturday the 19th at midnight to enter. The winner will be chosen by Random.org and will be announced on Sunday the 20th.

***One entry per person. Exception: Ifyou have made homemade treats for your pet, leave me a second comment with the link to your post on your blog for a second entry. Extraneous comments will be deleted.

58 comments:

Happy Birthday, Autumn! So cute....On Guthrie's birthday (160-pound Leonberger) he gets a steak. When he was one he was so excited he swallowed the big old thing whole...so now we're smarter and cut it into pieces for him.

She is simply beautiful :) Happy Birthday to your baby girl! We have two cats...well, one cat and one giant-bear-dog-cat. Lucy is my sweet kitty who has lived with me through 3 states and many homes and is older than any of my fur-less kids. She is a 13-year old grouchy queen of the house! Our big-lovable Moses we adopted from a pet refuge. He's half Main Coone (hence, huge) and half tabby. He's a lovable beggar and part-time contortionist who begs to drink water from the bathtub faucet. LOL!

Happy birthday Autumn! I bet she loves her pb cookies. I don't have any pets, my son is allergic to them. But, we used to have a beautiful white cat named Snowball when I was little. She was an extremely fat and happy cat who purred so loudly you could hear her all the time :D If you sat on the floor, she would tap you on the shoulder with her paw, I always loved it when she did that. Great giveaway!! Happy 200!

I used to have a dog named Rayne. She was a yellow lab mix with the most beautiful blue eyes! We had to give her away because we moved to an apartment with no yard and my husband and I both worked. I miss her a lot...especially now that my 19 month old son says, "I want puppy!"

Monica, Autumn is the cutest. My three would absolutely LOVE her. If I could be promised a good girl like yours I might consider getting a dog. Yes, that means I'm a mean Mama and dont' have any pets. :(

Um, I don't have a favorite animal. I really don't think about it, truth be told. Babygirl says I don't like animals. I do but I'm just not "into" them.~ingrid

I need to say a big THANK YOU for taking in a stray. I do a lot of work for animal welfare and when I see people taking in strays my heart just melts into mush. So as I read your story I was a bowl of MUSH!!! Mush I say! Thank you so much. :-)

happy birthday to autumn! my parents have a golden retriever with that name...

i have an english bulldog named butch (but she's a girl) she is my baby and i thought of her the whole time i was reading this post! life would not be complete without pets!

i have been wanting to try baking treats for butch--at this point she licks the bowl when i bake (unless it's chocolate) and as soon as she hears me getting bowls and canisters and all other manner of tools out she runs into the kitchen (from her usual hole on the couch asleep)she fusses and goes through her trick routine (sit, lay, "high five") over and over until we give her a nibble!

Happy Birthday Autumn! My stinky pups are Duncan and Tito - a 68lb 10 yr old coonhound and a 5lb 7 yr old chihuahua. Thier feet smell like corn chips too - hubby and I always ask if each other has been eating Fritos in bed again! They always make me happy and their love is so unconditional. Sweetm stinky boys.

Your dog is absolutely adorable and looks so lovable! I have 3 dogs, Poncho, Selena and Bosco. They are all so sweet and I love them dearly. They love to play and Bosco especially loves to run after little lizards that are outside!

Our landlords have been vehement about pets so we are currently just the two of us, but my PARENTS have the world's fattest, happiest chocolate lab. Her name is Koala but we mostly shorten that to 'Koala-kins the Super-Marvelous.' She is excellent for hugging, due to her girth.

Aww your dog is precious!! I have been begging my boyfriend for us to get a dog but we cant agree on what we want! Haha something tells me I will see 2 dogs in our future soon! I cant wait to get one though so I can bake cute little treats for him like you did! Such a good momma!

oh, we have 3 little bundles of fur...Buster the Boxer and Simba and Zazu the kittens...we go Buster when our oldest daughter was one year old and he literally came up to her knee! they toddled around the front yard and fell in love with each other!

I just love the picture of autumn with the wind blowing through her ears! That one deserves a frame and place on the mantel! I have two pets a 3 almost 4 year old doggie and a 24 year old horse. wish I could have more;)

I have two cats. I first adopted Lily from the SPCA when I got my first apartment after grad school. I told the volunteer at the SPCA, "I want a cat that will let me hold it like a baby." She then handed me Lily, who promptly snuggled right into my shoulder. When I had to leave her at home to go to work the next morning, I remember telling my boss that I would have to quit working when I had a baby - it was hard enough to leave my kitty. Three months after I got Lily, I felt that she needed a buddy. I found Maggie on Craigslist. She was four years old and had been kept locked in a bedroom by herself. She was terrified of anything and everything. I gave her a lot of love and let her come out of her shell. She is now the most loving cat I've ever met. Each night after dinner, she waits by my chair for me to pick her up and hold her. She wraps her paws around my arm. Both of the girls sleep with us at night. I just love them and can't imagine my life without them!

We have a 9-year-old cat, Sophie, who is both beautiful and aloof. (She only likes my husband and me.) And we have two puppies -- 7-year-old Chester and 2-year-old Charlie. They are both so lovable, yet so different. Chester is very serious; it is his responsibility to guard this family. Charlie is laid-back and shows everyone his belly. :) I love them all bunches and can't imagine life without them!

Autumn is adorable! I don't have any animals except for ones that live in the trees and marsh surrounding our house. Looking at all of your photos makes me want to find my very own Autumn. Loved the one of her on the chair with her head resting on the arm. Too cute!!!!! Thanks for bringing joy to my day.

What an adorable baby!!! I can see why you love her sooo much!!! We have a Shichon - half Shitzu and half Bichon. I guess you can call him a designer-dog, which we'll probably never do again!!! We needed to get a dog that wouldn't shed and that would be good for kids with allergies. He was perfect except that now looking back - I think he came from a puppy-mill. Poor thing... he had an over-bite, he's pigeon toed, etc... But we LOVE him!!! He is so smart - the best trained dog we've ever had! I'm convinced he's more obedient than our kids!!! ;) lol... Oh yeah, Kelbi is his name. In arabic, it means "my dog"! Our next dog will come from our local shelter - as long as he/she doesn't shed!!!

She reminds me of my,Gracie AKA... Poo Poo, Boo, Momma, Pretty Girl and Gracie Poo. Gracie also loves to sit in the kitchen and watch me bake. She loves to greet EVERYONE! When I first walk in the door I have to sit down on the couch so I can get some PUPPY LOVE!!! She also likes to chase black birds out of the back yard and practically takes down the door to get to them!!! Her birthday was in June and I went to Sugar Momma's Bakery here in Austin and ordered her a PUPCAKE!!! We had ribs in her honor and she got the meatiest one!!I love her to death and I don't know what I would do without her. She is the greatest!!

we recently gave away our last kitty...to a very loving home 9and were showered with thank-you notes, etc. from the kiddies)... she was a long hair domestic, and had the perfect temperament for a family - - she was only 1.5 yrs old. she was just bored in our new subdivision! (having lived in a large rural area)

Frito toes! Oh, that's too funny, because I totally know what you mean. I have three kids...er, pets. One Arabian horse, Savannah-- but we call her Savvy. Two spoiled felines-- Camo and Tiger Lily. I lost my precious Jamie Dog in 1997, and I am longing to have another one. I love my cats, but dogs rule.What a sweetie Autumn is-- they pick us, you know. Would love to win, but even if I don't-- what a great giveaway!xoxo and Happy Birthday, girl. My kitties would looooooooove to chase you out of their yard!

Frito Feet - that's what we call our Airedales feet too. We have three. An 8 year old and two fiver year old Airedale Terriers. They are alternately the joy or the bane of my life - depending on the day - and how focused they are on getting into mischief.

I just lost my dear pet two weeks ago after a very long life with us. Enjoy your sweetie pie because every moment with them is precious and they are gone all to soon. Happy Birthday Autumn and many, many happy returns.

So glad you rescued Autumn! Who could even think of doing that...seriously? Isn't that weird how some dogs feet smell like fritos?? I've noticed that too!Our dog is Cody, he's about 13. He adopted my husband back when we lived in Arkansas. The first thing I ever said about Cody was "get that dog off my bed". Welp, he's still there!

Happy Birthday Autumn!!!!!!! We have two puppies, Harli, she's a mutt that we adopted and Plato, he's an English Bulldog that my boyfriend has always wanted. We love them like you could love no other two dogs. Dogs are wonderful!!!

Oh, so there are more Frito toes out there.. I am always telling Emma that her feet stink.. she just smiles at me.. she has not idea.. She {your Frito toes} is a cutie... she reminds me of a dog my grandma had when I was litte.. Jingo.. just a good ole' natured dog.. Tell her Happy Birthday.

Happy 5th birthday Autumn! Those cookies look like an awesome birthday treat!Growing up we had many many pets; 4 cats, 1 dog, 4 ducks, 2 parakeets, 2 hamsters, countless gerbils, and up to 12 bunnies at a time! The rabbits were my favorite. They're just so fluffy and cute!

Autumn is diffidently a cutie! We have a new puppy on the way; she gets to come home in a week! Her name is Maggie! I think you have inspired me to make these treats for her, they will be a welcome home treat!

I've had so many different pets throughout my life but unfortunately they won't let us have on in our current apartment. My last pets were hyper guinea pigs, before that I had tons of birds, hamsters, and dogs :)!

the boys have a bear hamster lol named Winner..yes they named him.He's really cute because he is such a dark black and the boys love him.Happy b-day Autumn..you know everytime I pop over here you make me hungery right lol

Happy Birthday Autumn. I don't have any pets... but I am a cat lover. We have had bad luck with cats recently, and had to move to an apartment so we don't have another one yet. We are building a house out in the country on 1.3 acres and I cannot wait to have horses (how i Love having horses!) and cows (for beef) I think the country lifestyle sounds just about perfecT!

hi monica!i'm not writing to get entered in the contest.......i just want to say i LOVE your story about your dog. your love for her flows out of your words!!!! that is awesome....dogs are amazing!do you know what kind of dog she is? she is so beautiful!

I love when I hear about pet owners that treat their pets like family. We have two dogs, Gus & Aggie. Aggie sleeps in between us in bed and I am quite certain she thinks she is human. And Gus, the minute my alarm goes off, his big 'ol dog face is giving me kisses ready to start the day, and have his breakfast. He is a mama's boy and I love it. We got him from the pound 6 years ago, and he has had my heart since.

How sweet! Happy late Birthday to your sweetie! Pets are such a huge part of our lives aren't they :)We have a small terrier, Mr. R, I am trying to catch up on my blog reading and keep my 4 year old from painting his toe nails pink right now :) She already has a tu-tu and some beads on the poor guy, lol :)

I can't have pets now but when I could I was lucky enough to have a wonderful dog named Candy. I though she was the smartest dog in the whole world. I taught her so many tricks. It broke my heart when she died. It was many years ago but I miss her. Your dog and I share a birthday but I'm a LOT older than she is.

You are wonderful Monica. Autumn must be the luckiest dog ever. I have Clooney, a schitzu.. my pal during school days disappears with the kids most other times. Il have to try these special treats for him.

My building doesn't allow any pets but I have two fish named Muffin and Rainbow. Also, my childhood cat lives with my parents and is a robust orange tabby named Clara but most people just call her Fat Cat.

I love animals - and have had dogs as a child. My five year old son is autistic and we're waiting for the right time to adopt a puppy from the Shelter - we took Andrew a few months ago and he had a hard time with all the noise...so we're going to try again really soon. We think a dog would be great for him. Unconditional love...he has that from us but since he has a hard time with "friends" he needs a best friend every night to take care of.

We have a cat as our family "pet" - Shadow is definitely not a pet but a full fledged member of the family. We "rescued" her from a friends barn. She is actually part Russian Blue (a neighbors cat got "lost" in a move) and who knows what. She took over from day one and has been with us now for 5 years.

She handles car rides very well - so hopefully she will be able to see my son for Thanksgiving. He moved to VA this past month and Shadow still walks around his room looking for some sign of him.

I love your blog and check in on it often. I have a 3.5 pound short haired chihuahua named Bentley Barker, he is going to be three on November 7th (for which I always throw a small party with his own tiny little birthday cake) He is not a huge fan of dog treats, I must say, and I have tried at least five different recipes for homemade versions, and while he seems to like the flavor (read: he licks them, then spits them out and walks away)he never seems that thrilled by any of them. For treats he would, of course, prefer any cooked meat or tiny pieces of old fashioned glazed doughnuts. (yes he is a spoiled, spoiled little boy). Thanks for the great recipe I will give it another shot! I don't have any recipes posted on my blog but I do have some pictures of him on there.

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Welcome To My Blog

My name is Monica and I'm a stay at home mom living in central Texas. I like to cook, but baking is my passion. I am an (obsessive) collector of cake stands, cookbooks and bakeware. I make lots of yummy treats and often share my sweet creations with friends, family and anyone else who is willing to be my guinea pig. I have lots of recipes in the archives so I hope you'll stick around for awhile!

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